On July 18, CDC released an interim edition of
the VIS for the hepatitis B vaccine; it replaces the 7/11/01 edition. The
primary reason for issuing the interim edition is to stress that the birth
dose of the vaccine is now recommended for ALL newborns before hospital
discharge. Other changes were made throughout the interim VIS.

Existing stocks of the previous (7/11/01) edition may be used, but use of the
interim edition is encouraged. A final edition is expected in 2008.

Important: CDC releases updated information on the 7/16/07 edition of the VIS
for intranasal influenza vaccine

On July 27, CDC posted an announcement on the
portion of its website titled "News about Vaccine Information Statements." It
concerns the 7/16/07 edition of the VIS for live, attenuated influenza
vaccine (LAIV, intranasal). The announcement cautions providers against
printing large quantities of the VIS as FDA may approve vaccine licensing
changes in the near future. The announcement is reprinted below in its
entirety.

Important Notice about the 2007-2008 LAIV VIS. It is very
possible that FDA will approve updated licensing for FluMist
during this flu season--possibly before any vaccine has shipped.
If this happens, a new, interim VIS for LAIV will be published.
The available 2007-08 VIS reflects the current licensing. It
might be prudent for providers to delay printing large
quantities of the LAIV VIS until it is known whether this
version will be used. (7/27/07)

IAC recently revised its ready-to-print Q&A
patient-education
piece "Pertussis: Questions and Answers." Specifically, the
answer to the question titled "Can you get pertussis more than
once?" was updated.

In the past several weeks, IAC Express announced the
availability of ready-to-print Q&As on many vaccine-preventable
diseases and vaccines. These pieces can be printed and handed
out to patients to help educate them about the seriousness of
VPDs and the importance of vaccination. For more information,
please see article #4 in the July 2, 2007, issue of IAC Express,
which is located at http://www.immunize.org/express/issue672.asp#n4

The English-language versions of the patient-education brochure
and poster titled "HPV: Common Infection, Common Reality" are
once again available for online ordering. The brochure product
code is 99-8362; the poster product code is 99-8363.

Dated 7/16/07, the current version of the VIS for
trivalent
inactivated influenza vaccine (TIV; injectable) is now available
on the IAC website in Turkish. Also, the current versions of the
VISs for inactivated polio vaccine (IPV, dated 1/1/00) and
measles-mumps-rubella vaccine (MMR; dated 1/15/03) are available
on the IAC website in Amharic (spoken in Ethiopia). IAC
gratefully acknowledges Mustafa Kozanoglu, MD, and Murat
Serbest, MD, Adana, Turkey, for the Turkish translation; and
Healthy Roads Media, Bozeman, MT, for the Amharic translations.

WHO publishes the June 2007 meeting report of the Global Advisory Committee
on Vaccine Safety

On July 20, the WHO publication Weekly
Epidemiological Record
(WER) published "Global Advisory Committee on Vaccine Safety
[GACVS], 12-13 June 2007." An expert clinical and scientific
advisory body, GACVS deals independently and with scientific
rigor with vaccine safety issues of potential global importance.
It held its sixteenth meeting June 12-13.

The summer of 1950 made a lasting impression in the Blue Ridge
Mountain town of Wytheville, VA. During the summer referred to
as the "summer without children," the polio outbreak was more
severe than anywhere else in the country.

At the end of June 2007, the Department of Museums in Wytheville
celebrated the opening of a new permanent exhibit about the
polio outbreak during the "summer without children."

In this 1950s town with a typical main street and summers full
of tourists from the south looking to enjoy the cool mountain
air, polio affected everyone. The exhibit nicely sets up 1950s
life in Wytheville and traces the cases of polio through memoirs
and recollections of family members, physicians, businessmen,
and funeral directors, who doubled as ambulance drivers
throughout the epidemic. In addition to film footage, newspaper
reports, and personal accounts, the exhibit also displays both
infant-size and adult iron lungs.

To learn more, visit the Wytheville Department of Museums
website at http://museums.wytheville.org/default.htm The polio
exhibit is housed in the Thomas J. Boyd Museum. The museum
coordinator of heritage education has also written about the
polio outbreak in "A Summer Without Children," available on the
website in the publications section.

The National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO) of the
Department of
Health and Human Services seeks a senior public health advisor
for its office in Washington, DC. The closing date for filing an
application is August 17, 2007.

According to the job announcement, "the incumbent serves as
principal advisor and confidant to the Director of the National
Vaccine Program Office in planning and determining public health
policies, programs, and activities related to vaccines and
immunization."

For additional information, go to: http://jobsearch.usajobs.opm.gov In the box titled Keyword
Search, type in this job announcement number: HHS-OS-2007-0299.
Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click on the button titled
Search for Jobs.

MMWR notifies readers that September 15 is the deadline for applying for the
Epidemic Intelligence Service

CDC published "Notice to Readers: Epidemic
Intelligence Service
Application Deadline--September 15, 2007" in the July 27 issue
of MMWR. The notice is reprinted below in its entirety.

The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is a 2-year,
postgraduate program of service and on-the-job training for
health professionals interested in the practice of epidemiology.
Each year, EIS provides approximately 80 persons from around the
world opportunities to gain hands-on experience in epidemiology
at CDC or state or local health departments. EIS officers, often
called CDC's "disease detectives," have gone on to have
leadership positions at CDC and other public health agencies.
The EIS experience also is useful for health professionals who
would like to gain a population-based perspective on public
health practice.

Persons with a strong interest in applied epidemiology who meet
at least one of the following qualifications may apply to EIS:

Physicians with >=1 year of clinical training

Persons with a doctoral degree in epidemiology, biostatistics,
the social or behavioral sciences, natural sciences, or the
nutrition sciences

Dentists, physician assistants, and nurses with a master of
public health (MPH) or equivalent degree

Veterinarians with an MPH or equivalent degree or relevant
public health experience

Applications are being accepted for the July 2008-June 2010 EIS
program. Deadline for submitting application materials is
September 15, 2007. Application information and EIS program
details are available at http://www.cdc.gov/eis, by telephone
[at] (404) 498-6110, or via e-mail [at] eisepo@cdc.gov

Minnesota Department of Health schedules its 2007 immunization conference for
October 11-12

The Minnesota Department of Health has scheduled
its 2007
immunization conference for October 11-12 in Bloomington, MN.
Titled "Got Your Shots?" the conference will bring together
public and private partners to explore ongoing and upcoming
issues related to vaccine-preventable diseases and immunization.
Conference presenters include Donna Weaver, RN, MN, from CDC;
Paul Offit, MD, from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia; and
L.J. Tan, PhD, from the American Medical Association.
Registration will open in August.

The Hib Initiative unites experts from Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health, the London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, and the World Health Organization. Its mission is to
expedite and sustain evidence-informed decisions at the global,
regional, and country levels regarding the use of Hib
vaccination to prevent childhood meningitis and pneumonia.

The newsletter Hib Focus provides a focus on haemophilus
influenzae type b and the work of the Hib Initiative.

This website is supported in part by a cooperative agreement from the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (Grant No. 5U38IP000290) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, GA. The website content is the sole responsibility of IAC and does not necessarily represent the official views of CDC.